


Presence

by SaraJaye



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coma, Dreams, Episode: s07e01 A Little Adventure, Feelings, Flashbacks, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Unconsciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-17
Updated: 2019-08-17
Packaged: 2020-09-06 03:29:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20284651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: As his new body heals and tries to accept his consciousness, Shiro dreams.





	Presence

His dreams are filled with the past as his body sleeps, his consciousness floating in a void just like it's been for the last year. He's only vaguely aware of people talking as he drifts in and out, but one voice sticks out more than the others.

_Keith..._

He dreams of the Garrison, of meeting the Holts for the first time, of Adam. But the strongest memories are of the surly young boy in the red hoodie stealing his car, meeting him at the museum, accepting his offer to get him into the Garrison.

_"I don't belong here," Keith muttered. "I really tried this time, but Iverson says I'm a hothead and that stupid loud kid pushed me and said he should be the pilot for the simulator. The only good thing was that Iverson yelled at him, too." Shiro nodded, patting the couch beside him._

_"Iverson yells at everyone. I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong." Keith still struggled to fit in with the culture, just like that woman had predicted he would, but he was still an impressive pilot and managed good grades when he really put his mind to it. Keith could fit in, **wanted** to fit in despite his insistence that he didn't care._

_"The only reason I'm still doing this is because you said I can," Keith sighed, sitting down on the couch and hugging his knees to his chest. "No one else here likes me, especially the teachers except for Adam and I think he's just putting up with me because I'm your friend." Shiro frowned, putting an arm around the slumping shoulders. The other cadets just scoffed at Keith, called him emo or hothead or jerkface, but a lot of the staff thought he was a troublemaker. Just like his teacher had._

_If only he were old enough to be in Commander Holt's classes. Sam would probably be a better fit for him._

_Keith leaned against him, burying his face in his shoulder, and Shiro hugged him closer._

_"You can't let Iverson get to you," he said. "Like I said, he yells at everyone. And the other teachers don't know you yet, but they will. You just keep trying and they'll see-"_

_"No they won't." Keith's voice was muffled. "No one ever has. I'm just a bad kid no one ever wanted." And Shiro's heart broke. He knew Keith hadn't had much in the way of friends, and no family to care for him after his father's death. He knew very well that could mess someone up, but the depths of just how much it had shaped Keith's low opinion of himself were just too much._

_He shifted a little, helping Keith lie down so his head was in his lap. Keith seemed surprised, but didn't move to stop him, and Shiro gently smoothed his mussed hair a little._

_"I'm here," he said. "And I meant what I said in the office that day. I won't give up on you."_

"-give up on you."

The faint sound of Keith's voice breaks through his visions. He can't see, can't move, but he _senses_ Keith by his side. Like always.

Keith's been saving him since...who knows how long? Since the Garrison hospital, maybe even before. When Keith refused to give him up for dead no matter what the news or the official reports believed.

_"I never believed them, even once."_

_They sat alone in the lounge after a long day of forced bonding exercises, hissy fits, grumpiness, lectures, a food fight, and finally a successful battle against a Robeast. It would still take time for the team to really bond, but they'd taken a big step forward by managing to form Voltron, at least._

_"But how did that get you kicked out of the Garrison?" Shiro asked. Keith looked away for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck and coughing nervously._

_"I...may have punched out a kid who mentioned the Kerberos mission," he mumbled. "And then I told Iverson to go fuck himself before I decked **him,** too." Shiro frowned, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I know, I know," Keith sighed. "I really messed up. You wouldn't have wanted me to do that, after all the hard work you put into me."_

_"You shouldn't have blown up like that, no," Shiro said. "But...if you were the one missing and everyone kept saying you were dead after crashing the ship, I might have reacted the same way," he admitted. "I know how hard the last year must have been for you, Keith."_

_"It's not your fault." Keith turned back to him, shifting to lean against his shoulder. "It would have hurt just a bit less if everyone hadn't kept going on about the so-called pilot error or talking about you like you were dead," he said. "I knew you weren't, and I knew it had to do with the Blue Lion, it was just a matter of putting it all together." He smiled. "But I always knew you'd come back. No matter what."_

_Shiro smiled a little, putting his arm around him, and neither one spoke for a few moments. But the contact spoke louder than any words ever could._

_ **Thank you, Keith.** _

"-stay with Shiro," Keith's saying.

He phases in and out of semi-awareness. When his consciousness can "see" what goes on or who's there while his body rests in the healing pod, he watches Keith pick at whatever food rations Allura or Krolia bring him. Hears them gently urge him to get some rest, with Keith insisting he can't sleep until he knows Shiro will wake up.

_Wake up._

His body needs so much healing, battered by that last fight and their fall into space. The arm that once brought him such self-doubt and even hatred is gone, and he only vaguely remembers waking up in Keith's arms after...he's not sure. Allura did something, but he can't remember what.

His consciousness dips and he finds himself in that void again. It's dark, quiet save for faint whispers surrounding him. The voices seem like they _should_ be familiar, but he can't place them. Once in a while he sees a softly glowing form or two, but he can't recognize their barely-there features.

Suddenly, he can hear the first voice, clear as a bell, and the person's features come into view.

"Hello, my son." And Shiro's heart clenches and his eyes fill with tears as he realizes he, himself, is standing before this person.

"Dad."

"It's been too long. I've missed you, Takashi, and I wish I could tell you how proud I've been of you for coming so far," Dad murmurs. "But it's too soon."

"What do you mean?"

"You shouldn't be here," the second person says. _Ulaz._ His rescuer, the man who sacrificed his life to save them, was more or less responsible for their discovery of the Blade of Marmora and Voltron's first vital alliance. His eyes tear up, and he tries to step closer, but there's some sort of barrier.

"Am I...no, I can't be, she brought me back, he still-"

"Your body's struggling," Ulaz says. He passes a hand over the darkness and Shiro sees Keith, eyes filled with tears as he begs Allura to so something, _anything_. _But there's nothing more I can do,_ she says sadly, and for the first time since all of this happened, Keith breaks.

_Shiro! Shiro, please! Don't do this to me again, you can't leave me! SHIRO!_

"Keith." He swallows. "Please, help me get back. I can't...it's not just Keith, it's the rest of the team. Pidge, Sam and Matt, Mom, Ryou, everyone..."

Dad smiles sadly.

"I don't want to see you again until you're old and decrepit. Understood?"

"I didn't save your life just to let it end here," Ulaz adds. "Go back to them." Shiro nods, wishing he could hug them, but the barrier holds firm, and his father and Ulaz are beginning to fade into unrecognizable spectres once more. Shiro closes his eyes, lets himself fall away, and moments later his body opens its eyes.

He's looking up into Keith's relieved, tearful smile as the pod opens. Keith whispers his name, and Shiro smiles back at him.

"I was dreaming." His remaining hand shakily reaches up to caress Keith's cheek. Flashes of his dreams, their past, their bond deepening as time went on, Keith's endless efforts to save him out of pure, selfless love. _Friend, brother in arms, comrade, mentor and protegé..._

And something more. He'd suspected his feelings had changed long ago, but this moment confirms it.

"Keith," he whispers, "you saved me." Their eyes lock, and for a moment both are tempted to close the distance between their faces. But instead, Keith embraces him, burying his face in Shiro's hair.

"We saved each other." And Shiro hugs him back weakly; Allura and Krolia are watching them and the others will probably be back at any moment. _Maybe another time,_ he thinks. But then Keith murmurs something, words spoken in desperation during a moment he scarcely remembers otherwise. They're anything but desperate now.

"Keith..." He holds him closer, running shaky fingers through Keith's black hair. "I love you, too."

With a soft cry, Keith hugs him tighter, and Shiro's own eyes fill with tears. He's never been happier to be alive than he is at this moment.


End file.
